diff --git a/core/Command/Maintenance/UpdateHtaccess.php b/core/Command/Maintenance/UpdateHtaccess.php
index 2185078620..89eeb7ccf5 100644
--- a/core/Command/Maintenance/UpdateHtaccess.php
+++ b/core/Command/Maintenance/UpdateHtaccess.php
@@ -38,8 +38,12 @@ class UpdateHtaccess extends Command {
 	}
 
 	protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output) {
-		\OC\Setup::updateHtaccess();
-		$output->writeln('.htaccess has been updated');
-		return 0;
+		if (\OC\Setup::updateHtaccess()) {
+			$output->writeln('.htaccess has been updated');
+			return 0;
+		} else {
+			$output->writeln('<error>Error updating .htaccess file, not enough permissions?</error>');
+			return 1;
+		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/lib/private/Setup.php b/lib/private/Setup.php
index 3b3a57c3e9..4c72fbc962 100644
--- a/lib/private/Setup.php
+++ b/lib/private/Setup.php
@@ -410,6 +410,7 @@ class Setup {
 
 	/**
 	 * Append the correct ErrorDocument path for Apache hosts
+	 * @return bool True when success, False otherwise
 	 */
 	public static function updateHtaccess() {
 		$config = \OC::$server->getConfig();
@@ -418,7 +419,7 @@ class Setup {
 		if(\OC::$CLI) {
 			$webRoot = $config->getSystemValue('overwrite.cli.url', '');
 			if($webRoot === '') {
-				return;
+				return false;
 			}
 			$webRoot = parse_url($webRoot, PHP_URL_PATH);
 			$webRoot = rtrim($webRoot, '/');
@@ -472,9 +473,10 @@ class Setup {
 
 		if ($content !== '') {
 			//suppress errors in case we don't have permissions for it
-			@file_put_contents($setupHelper->pathToHtaccess(), $htaccessContent.$content . "\n");
+			return (bool) @file_put_contents($setupHelper->pathToHtaccess(), $htaccessContent.$content . "\n");
 		}
 
+		return false;
 	}
 
 	public static function protectDataDirectory() {